Unblock Ananda Vikatan website once it temporarily removes cartoon on PM Modi, Madras High Court directs I&B Ministry

The Madras High Court on Thursday (March 6, 2025) passed an interim order directing the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) to permit public access to the Ananda Vikatan website.

The Madras High Court on Thursday (March 6, 2025) passed an interim order directing the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) to permit public access to the Ananda Vikatan website on the condition that the latter should temporarily remove the offending cartoon featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi shackled in chains during a meeting with the United States President Donald Trump.

Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the order pursuant to a writ petition filed jointly by Ananda Vikatan Productions Private Limited and Ananda Vikatan Publishers Private Limited, challenging the I&B Ministry’s February 25, 2025, proceedings and seeking a consequential direction to the Ministry to immediately restore public access to the website, www.vikatan.com.

Senior counsel Vijay Narayan, representing the petitioners, argued that Article 19(2) of the Constitution lists only eight grounds — namely, issues affecting sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, relating to decency or morality, contempt of court, and defamation or incitement to an offence — for curtailing freedom of speech and expression.

Similarly, Section 69A of the Information Technology Act of 2000 lists identical reasons for which the Centre could issue directions to block public access to any information through any computer resource. He said, it would not be sufficient to block access to a website merely because soverignty had been affected and it was necessary that the integrity of the country should have also been affected.

Mr. Narayan argued that the cartoon published by Ananda Vikatan did not fall under any of the reasons cited under the law for blocking public acess to information. He said that no damage had been caused to the sovereignty and integrity of the country and that no harm had befallen upon the friendly relations between India and the United States due to the cartoon published on February 10, 2025.

Stating that this was a serious issue involving journalistic freedom and the right to free speech, he said, worldover, magazines publish cartoons of political leaders but they do not get subjected to such harsh measures. He brought it to the notice of the court that the Centre had refused to inform the details of the complainant at whose instance public access to the entire website had been blocked.

On his part, Additional Solicitor General AR.L. Sundaresan highlighted that both Article 19(2) of the Constitution and Section 69A of the IT Act list issues affecting ‘foreign relations’ as a reason for which public access to information could be blocked. He vehemently contended that the cartoon showing the Prime Minister shackled in chains during a meeting the U.S. President would definitely affect relations with that country.